Donny was calling from a new phone, with a Louisiana area code, so he had to leave a message and wait for Lou to call him back.

“Are you back from DC?”

“Yes. The talks broke down. I’m hoping you’ll tell me you had a better outcome.”

“Yeah, well, my psycho terrorist client stole my phone and ran off with your daughter.”

“What?”

“It’s not as bad as it sounds,” said Donny.

“You fucking clown. Goddamn you. I’m an idiot for thinking you could help.”

“Calm down, Lou. Let me explain.”

Donny told him the story.

It was not as effective as he thought it would be.

“That does it,” said Lou. “I guess we have to do this Lecker’s way.”

“No, Lou. I told you, Heather’s free.”

“It’s obvious you don’t know that. She’s a prisoner of this fucking Harrison kid.”

“No, Lou. It’s not like that.”

But Donny already knew where that was going. The feelings of fathers about their daughters had their own logic.

“Just give me one more day,” said Donny. “Trust me.”

“I did trust you, against my better judgment. I knew this was a stupid idea, to let you get in the middle of this. I am going to have to take care of this myself.”

“Better you than Lecker. He has his own agenda.”

“He just wants to make sure we can feed our people, Donny. Heather may be a little lost right now, but she’ll come around. I just need more time with her.”

“Be careful, Lou. She and her friend are pretty wild. And I think they may be coming your way.”

That caught him up short. “She wouldn’t do that.”

“You would be surprised. Listen. I’m here. In Dallas. We need to meet in person. It will be safer. And maybe we can all sit down and work something out.”

“I’ll talk to you later, Donny.”

“Suit yourself,” said Donny. “But be careful. Don’t assume the guards protecting your gated compound there are actually doing their job. And if you change your mind, I’m going to meet with Lecker first thing tomorrow.”

He wanted to ask Lou if he had ever played Wrath of Atlantis, but he knew he wasn’t the type.

54

From the airport, Donny went to visit his mom at her condo in downtown Dallas. It was Sunday night. Before politics pulled them apart, Sunday night was when they used to always try to talk or, if they were both in town, have dinner. And because it was the weekend, Mom’s boyfriend was there.

“Hello, Judge,” said Donny, when he opened the door.

“Hello, Donny,” said the father figure Donny least wanted to see.